Vermiculture, or vermin-tech, is the gospel that Dr Sultan Ahmed Ismail has been preaching for years now. It was indeed a great honour for us at Sacred Heart when this eminent scientist came to our school to demonstrate this technique to the students of the Eco Club.
Dr Ismail has a string of degrees attached to his name MSc, PhD, DSc, soil biologist and ecologist, yet he is so unassuming and modest. Children connected with him at once and asked him so many questions, which he readily and patiently answered. He lovingly held these little ‘creepy crawlies’ in his hands, much to the delight of the students, and encouraged them to touch them as well.
He personally assisted us in mixing the cow dung with the leaf compost.
“We have always been afraid of them. Today we realise they are not so scary,” said Trishla and Henna as the two gladly held round red millipedes in their hands
“We hardly ever had the time to observe these little creatures. Now we all find them so fascinating,” exclaimed Aanya and Sushmita together.”
Few countries,” says Dr Ismail, “have the variety of earthworm species as India has; we have over 500, and most of them are catalytical in composting, burrowing through the sand and providing aeration to micro-organisms like protozoa and bacteria and others.”
The social innovation described, vermitech or earthworm-raising, serves several purposes from safe handling of domestic organic waste to the generation of rich compost that can be used for a wide range of applications including raising crops and kitchen gardens besides bio-remediation of difficult soils.
In Chennai alone hundreds of householders are using Dr Ismail’s techniques to strike a twin blow for urban life: reduction in the load on disposal systems and in creation of potted gardens!.
Dr Ismail’s obsession and passion for the earthworm will never cease. He is definitely a green warrior… and so are we!
Gita Das
Department of English
Sacred Heart MHSS